


Never Did It for the Crown

by Darthkvzn



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, Link and Zelda immediately after Ganon is defeated, Post-Canon, Written as pairing, but can be read as platonic, hints of PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24889639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darthkvzn/pseuds/Darthkvzn
Summary: A princess who holds no crown and a knight whose purpose is fulfilled reflect in the aftermath of a bittersweet victory.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 73





	Never Did It for the Crown

**Author's Note:**

> Been playing a lot of BotW with my sister lately, which led to fanfic reading, which led to this. Just a fun little post-game one-shot, featuring my obsession with justifying game mechanics with headcanons. Hope you enjoy!

They’re all _exhausted,_ of course.

Link, he goes without saying. Zelda, who’s not _quite_ used yet to her own body after a century of keeping the Calamity at bay. Even _Epona_ – who’s never _once_ shown any sign of exhaustion in the months since she so mysteriously came to Link – sways in place, her breathing labored.

But they’ve done it. The corrupted scent of blood, rust, poison, and _rot_ that so pervasively accompanied Ganon’s Malice is gone from Link’s tunic, along with its ignominious stain. The Calamity is ended, and along with it, it appears, its physical manifestation. Zelda can’t even bring herself to believe it yet, half expecting the massive, boar-like aberration to have the last laugh and sprout from the lush, green field beneath their feet, swallowing them whole in an instant.

She _almost_ finds it disappointing when absolutely nothing happens.

The final battle left them in the very midst of Hyrule Field, and thus completely exposed to any monster or Guardian drawn by the chaos. After a good half hour spent tending to Link’s mostly superficial wounds, Zelda brings up the issue of shelter, to which Link absently points at the long forgotten ruins of Lon Lon Ranch. Not much of the once prosperous town built around it remains, but Zelda is vaguely aware that Link made camp there, the night before walking into Hyrule Castle and confronting the Demon King.

The walk is short, but Link absolutely refuses to go unless she rides Epona. Seeing as she can barely manage a few wobbly steps, Zelda begrudgingly agrees. Link double-checks the place for hidden enemies, even though he presumably just cleared the place the night before. Once satisfied, she leads Epona to the small campsite, reaching towards his waist with practiced ease and pulling a piece of flint and a bundle of wood from the Sheikah Slate’s magical inventory. The campfire crackles within five minutes flat.

“Has the bleeding stopped?” –Zelda quietly ventures, blowing on a bowl of soup that is somehow still piping hot, despite being kept in magical stasis for _goddesses_ know how long.

Link extends his left arm, bearing the sizeable cut along the underside of his forearm, cautiously removing the bandage. Not only has the wound stopped bleeding, but it seems the cut has sealed altogether, leaving behind an angry, tender red mark.

“ _Oh._ I’m...not _entirely_ sure how eating a bite of stinky, simmered fruit could heal a wound like that, but I suppose I can’t argue with the results.”

“Magic in the fruit.” –he mutters. “You cook it out. Same as the frog.”

It’s not quite the first thing he’s said since Ganon was destroyed – the first was her name, a panicked plea shouted after she collapsed from putting _everything_ she had into the searing blast of divine power that consumed the all-consuming abomination. Still, for Link, it’s something of a mouthful – even before the Calamity, in that all too brief span of time in which they became real friends, it was something of a challenge to get him to utter a single word.

This adventure, it’s clear, has changed him.

“The frog?” –she asks, struggling to parse through the decades of alternating sensory deprivation and overload.

He nods, pulling up the Slate. He shows her a picture of Irch Plain, and remembrance finally hits her. She blushes. “Oh, _goddess._ You mean the frog I all but shoved into your mouth.”

Link pulls a glass bottle out of thin air, filled with a greenish-blue fluid. “Elixir. Makes you faster.” –he says, then shrugs. “Your research was right.”

Zelda takes the bottle, whose contents pleasantly swirl around – its consistency somewhere in between warm honey and milk. If she hadn’t just been told this was made from a _frog,_ she wouldn’t ever know. “I see. Did it help in your journey?”

He hums, agreeably. Zelda absently notes the barely readable Hylian script identifying the substance as a ‘hasty elixir’ before handing the bottle back. It promptly disappears into the Slate’s inventory with the brief, telltale blue glow of Sheikah technology. Link takes the Master Sword from his back and unsheathes it, its soft, heavenly glow comforting Zelda. The Hylian Champion frowns as he stares at the divine blade. “What’s wrong?” –Zelda asks.

“Sword’s fixed.” –he mumbles. “For good, this time.”

“Well, it definitely looks _much_ better than the last time I saw it.” –Zelda recalls, with a shiver. The memory of Blatchery Plain is unlikely to go away anytime soon, seared as Link’s death and the birth of her powers is into her psyche. “But what do you mean, ‘for good’?”

He scrunches up his nose. “Kept breaking. Would come back, after a while.” –he explains.

“The Master Sword would... _break?_ ” –she asks, confused. “I thought the Blade of Evil’s Bane was meant to be indestructible, same as the other divine relics.”

“All my weapons break.” –he says, chagrined. “Even the Sword.”

“That’s... _unfortunate._ ”

Link snorts, softly. “It feels better now. _Whole,_ I guess.”

“Perhaps Ganon cast a curse on you, good knight.” –she teases. “Doomed your sword hand to never again hold a reliable blade.”

He scowls. “Got my bows, too.”

Zelda giggles, despite the fact that she can only imagine that losing a weapon mid-fight could very well have spelled his end. She wonders how many times it happened – judging by his expression, probably _way too many._ “Well, I suppose I’m glad the curse is lifted – if it was a curse at all, and not just a bout of rotten luck. Though I imagine, in any case, that you’ll be laying down your weapons now.”

Link tilts his head, confused, like she just spoke in the nigh-indecipherable ancient tongue of the Sheikah. “Monsters still around.” –he reminds her. “Have to protect the kingdom.”

She scoffs, bitter. “ _What_ kingdom, Link? Even the lucky few who may have survived the Calamity are surely _gone,_ by now. Nothing remains of Hyrule but ashes and ruins.”

The knight resolutely shakes his head. “People survived. People rebuilt.” –he says. “There’s towns. Villages. The other races’ cities still exist. _They’re_ the kingdom. All of them.”

Zelda blinks at the news. She could see glimpses, throughout the decades – a stable here, a lodge there, some sporadic evidence of Hylian life in the continent – but she truly thought Hyrule had been so completely overrun by Guardians and monsters that no real trace of her father’s once mighty realm would remain. At best, she thought her last stand at Fort Hateno had merely bought the Sheikah enough time to leave Kakariko. “They’re...still here? But... _Castle Town..._ ” –she says, remembering all too well the horrific state of the city around Hyrule Castle.

“Gone.” –Link confirms, grimly. “But you saved Hateno. Saved Kakariko. We could...go there, if you want?”

The thought makes her dizzy – she’s not sure if it’s the prospect of such a cross-country trip, or of visiting places she remembers so fondly, only to find complete strangers where once there were friends and loved ones. She must’ve gone deathly pale, because Link very quickly kneels before her and tries to rub some heat back into her shoulders. “We don’t have to.” –he reassures her.

“We do.” –she finds herself saying. “Even if I’m not their princess anymore – even if this isn’t the Hyrule I knew and loved – you’re right. We have a duty to them. Our hubris created this broken world; the least we can do is try to make it a better one.”

She looks him in the eye, frowning at the concern she finds there. “And _don’t_ try to stop me. Don’t tell me I can’t throw myself at this the way you so brazenly throw yourself at a Lynel’s maw.”

Link gives her an ever so slightly cocky shrug. “Wouldn’t dare.” –he says. “Would the princess have me escort her?”

“Should the knight be comfortable following a princess who no longer bears a crown, I have no objections.” –she says, haughtily. Then, a much more vulnerable: “I would very much like it if you joined me, Link.”

He gives her a soft smile, so unfortunately foreign on his usually stoic expression, and presses his lips against her forehead. “I never did it for the crown.”

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you for your attention! Make sure to comment or message me if you have any questions about this story. Look me up on Twitter as Darthkvzn or Tumblr as darthkvznblogs if you'd like - and on Ko-fi, as Darthkvzn, if you like what I do and have a coffee's worth of money to spare. 
> 
> I'll probably do a few more one-shots following this storyline, but my upload schedule is...well, not much of a schedule. I hope you'll stay tuned, though! Until next time!


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